To celebrate Earth Day, here’s a fun free printable that will get your kids even more excited to plant a tree!
Planting a tree is already such a fun project for children, and now you can take it a step further and turn it into a little party! This kit was inspired by Andrea Koehle Jones of Love Trees, an educational tree planting program for children. Andrea had the idea for a tree tag to hang on the branch of a newly planted tree, and she also envisioned a certificate of “tree ownership.” Using her ideas (and adding a few printable circles of course!), I designed the kit to have bright colors and sweet, kid-friendly sayings appropriate for a post-tree planting celebration.
To help show off the free printables, my friend Shelley of HowDoesShe had her adorable son Noah and his pal Brooks pitch in and plant trees of their own. They were plenty excited to get to play in the dirt for a good cause! ; )
First you dig…
…and then you carefully pat pat pat the tree into place. (It’s good for an adult to supervise, of course – planting a tree properly is important to ensure that it thrives. The tree planting kit includes detailed instructions for planting a tree that were written by Andrea of Love Trees.)
Write the date and your child’s name on the tree tag, and have him hang it on his brand new tree.
Noah was proud to sign his own name on his tag!
To make it official, I’ve included a Tree Caretaker certificate where you can record the date and place where your child planted their tree. It says, “I pledge to take good care of my tree by helping to water it and by watching it grow. My tree is one of a kind, just like me!”
A few printable circles can be used to make little badges of honor, or even cupcake toppers! (Planting a tree might work up an appetite!) : )
Since the certificate is meant to be saved, it would be fun for your child to record their tree’s height on the back and then measure it every few months to see how much it’s grown.
I hope you love the idea of this project as much as I do! Download the Tree Planting Kit and enjoy!! Happy Earth Day!
“Planting a tree any time, no matter how many you plant,
is something to celebrate and remember always.”
–Andrea Koehle Jones, Executive Director, Love Trees
I’m so grateful to Shelley of HowDoesShe for her generosity in taking these pictures for me, and to Andrea of Love Trees for inspiring this kit. Thank you, thank you!
We Love Your Comments!
Comments
Windy City Novelties says:
This is such a great way to get kids interested in the environment!
Kathy says:
Thank you sooooo much for all of your hard work in creating these printables and then making the free too! You are a real blessing, especially to a busy home schooling mum like myself. You are fantastic:-)
Heather says:
I'm blushing!! Seriously! Thank you, Kathy - you're so kind!
Michelle says:
Seriously this is fabulous. I love it!
Heather says:
Thank you so much, Michelle! : )
Leslie says:
What a cute kit! I should share this with my daughter's school!
Heather says:
I'd love that Leslie!! The more the better! : )
Andrea says:
Just printed the tree planting kit - can't wait to get outside and plant trees with the kids. Thank you so much - such a beautiful design. Keep-up the great work! : )
Victoria says:
I love this!! And my kids would love the little badges. I shared this on my blog here: http://www.vixenmade.com/2012/04/free-printable-friday-earth-day.html
Heather says:
Thank you so much Victoria! I really appreciate that you blogged about these! : )
Kari - the Sweetest Memory says:
That is the sweetest thing ever! The kids look so proud and a great lesson!
Kari - the Sweetest Memory says:
I just love these! I love what a sense of pride kids would have doing this, and it is a great example to teach them! I am sharing on my blog.
http://thesweetestmemoryblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/sweet-inspiration-earth-day-repurposed.html
Thank you for sharing!
Heather says:
Thank you so much Kari!! : )
libbywilko says:
Thanks for such a cute set of "green" printables ! Love the idea.
lemondedis says:
une jolie idée... et une sensibilisation à l'écologie qui touchera sans nul doute les enfants... merci pour le partage
Samantha says:
I really like this idea. I tried to plant an apple tree when I was a kid & I never saw a bit of a sprout from it. Really could have used this kit back then!
Heather says:
That's so sweet! Although maybe the type of apple just wasn't suited to your climate? Hmmm. I know I tried to plant peach pits when I was little and never got anything from them! Although I also tried to hatch a chick from a store-bought egg (which are all non-fertilized, obviously)... I definitely didn't know what I was doing. ; )
Ma. Erika Radomes says:
This is a great idea!